Samsung OS 5 Smartphones Still MIA

Samsung has a bad habit of showing off new their new Palm OS smartphones years before the product is available for sale. In the past year, the company has shown two new Palm OS 5 smartphones at trade shows that have yet to reach the consumer market. Read on to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the devices.

SGH-i500
Originally announced at CeBit in March of 2003, the SGH-i500 is a Palm OS 5.2 smartphone with a high resolution screen and exterior OLED color display. It was later revealed at the ITU World Telecom Conference last October, that the device is intended for the European market and would be made available sometime in 2004.

It features a built in 330K pixel VGA (640 x 480) camera with an embedded flash. In addition there is a SD expansion slot that supports SD/IO and a standard Ir port. The SGH-i500 also has a speaker that supports Polyphonic ringtones and standard MIDI.

It has dimensions of 3.5 x 2.3 x 1 inches (88 x 54 x 26 mm) and weighs 5.3 ounces (150g). It comes with a rechargeable (1100mAh) battery which allows for 200 minute of talk time and 100 hours on standby.

SGH-i505
The SGH-i505 has similar clamshell shape and features as the previous model, but is distinguished by its flip and twist design and has a lower resolution 160x160 screen. It has a 180 degree rotatable display that converts over into a tablet mode, much like the Sony NX series. It has a external antenna and built in VGA camera and flash on the back. It is also expected sometime in 2004.

Since both models user a tri-band GSM/GPRS radio chip it is possible they could both be released in the US, Europe and Asia. However no carriers, prices or firm release dates have been announced. Other sites are reporting details on a new SGH-i530, which could likely be a misprint or a unconfirmed re-branding as the device and specs seems identical to the SGH-i500.

SPH-i500
The SPH-i500 is a CDMA Samsung Palm Powered smartphone that is currently available in the US on the Sprint network. It runs Palm OS 4.1 and sports a 66 MHz Dragonball processor and 16MB of RAM. The small clamshell model features a removable battery and is 3.4 by 2.1 by .85 inches when closed and weighs 4.5 ounces.

RE: SGH-I530

Samsung has not formally announced a SGH-i530 model, it simply does not exist at this point. All of the supposed pictures and details of it are exactly the same as the SGH-i500 which was announced over a year ago.

-Ryan

SGH-I530 and OTHERS!!!!!!!!!!

Ryan is correct in the sense that the i530 hasn't "officially" been announced by Samsung and it is therefore rumor, but isn't rumor/conjecture exactly what makes PIC so great! ;) Anyway, there's been lots of info leaked over at the forum at PDAphone.com about the upcoming Samsung models. First of all according to Rave, the SGH-i500 has been replaced completely by SGH-i530. In fact it has even been posted on several website such as this one:

Of course nothing in these burbs is verifiable in terms of specs, but I think we can be safe to assume such a device does indeed exist just as many assume the TE2 is real...Anyway, it seems that the i500 has been renamed and and updated and will be launched as the i530 in the future...

As far as the other specs I posted above: all the info was gathered from info gingerly sprinkled by Rave etc over at the forums at PDAphone.com. Below are some of the threads you might find useful...

RE: SGH-I530

Am i missing something? whats different about the SGHi 530 from the SGH i500? I think Admins point stands no? The article stated:

>>Other sites are reporting details on a new SGH-i530, which could likely be a misprint or a unconfirmed re-branding as the device and specs seems identical to the SGH-i500.

I think this is just a name change (again - maybe i am missing something obvious here) to fix a real problem : nobody can remember the difference between the low powered, low res SPH-i500 and the SGH-i500. This was the most confusing dual product launch naming strategy in the history of smartphones and pdas (and people complained about palms name changes!). They are both 'miscellaneous acronym beginning with s'-i500. What the hell do samsung marketing guys get paid for? Anyway - the i530 seems like a name change to make the product differentiation clearer. any thoughts?

RE: SGH-I530

RE: SGH-I530

>>UGH...please re-read carefully my post above. The SGH-i500 had apparently been renamed the i530 according to info posted in various forums. This is not separate phone...

UGH - please re-read MY comment. I agree - thats what i said! I am just speculating as to WHY they changed the name - because having 2 different products that have names both ending in -i500 was extremely confusing. I know its the same products. i simply asked 'am i missing something?' as a disclaimer - in case this is indeed something else (because somebody's forum post is hardly the end all in reliable sources).

RE: SGH-I530

>>>>UGH - please re-read MY comment. I agree - thats what i said! I am just speculating as to WHY they changed the name...

Okay re-read. ;) The main differences are that the i530 will supposedly have an updated 1 MP camera and color external OLED screen. Regarding why they changed the name, refer to info by Rave in the 1st tinyurl link I posted. Of course, nothing is definitely verifiable...

RE: SGH-I530

I'd love to trace back all the articles that have been written on the i530. What are the odds that they all go back to the same rumour in the PDAphone site? Substantiated or not, the internet is a great way of turning a fiction into a "fact" by the shear number of people hitting the ame article, and seeing other articles that were written based on that article (and no referencing the source).

Until there are official pics, or a quantifiable announcement, I am leaning towards the "interesting rumour" camp.

However, the rep at my local Best Buy swears that the Samsung PDA phone on display is running PalmOS 5.2 ... could it be true?

Closer and Closer

the i500 is pretty damn close to perfect. A similar devices with a lower cost and smaller or at least thinner form factor will be be a runaway hit, especially if has fastap(http://www.digitwireless.com/). I am not a fan of the stylus.

More Samsung Vapporware??

That's what I think. I'm really tempted to get an unlocked Treo 600, especially now that Brighthand has posted that the 610 is just a rumor.

The main problem is that I'm down here in Mexico and the damned cellphone providers just give me awful n-gages. I've seen some Treos 600 in bid sites here but seems like scams based on price and seller reputation. I've got $560 usd so if anybody would help me in how to get an unlocked Treo 600 for that money I would be really happy to kiss goodbye my m130.

Please help me!!

Technology moves faster than you can afford... at least for me.

Samsung Tops M$oft in Vaporware Dept

If you timed Samsung's "pre-announce/leak" to product period, you'd exceed the gestation period of an elephant. They even top M$oft in vaporware to scare away competition. The original Samsung i500 was "pre-announced" by Samsung at a trade show in March 2002, and finally saw the light of day in July 2003. I bought one of those, longing for the rumored i5XX that would add OS5, SDIO, hires screen, MP3, SMS, camera. Having learned my lesson, I jumped ship to the the Treo 600, a SHIPPING product (no hires, and suck camera, but all the rest is there plus nifty keyboard).

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